Revolution
by Kromatick
Summary: The third installment in what is now the Mechro/Hunted trilogy. Set a year and a half after Hunted, Gaige resumes her normal life on Eden-5. However, after briefly contacting the Vault Hunters back on Pandora, she finds that something bad is happening on Pandora, something to do with Sirens, the Vaults and the Eridians. Gaige/OC - Maya/Axton
1. We'll Be Coming Back

**A/N: I'm back! Again! Wow, I didn't expect it to be this long before I did anything fanfiction related, but whatever. I've been really busy recently with studying for big exams starting in June, so that's been taken up a lot of my precious time. I was also finding it hard to focus and get this story started. Most of the time I didn't have the concentration or energy to write. However, I found an ingenius solution to this: caffeine. :) Seriously, it helps. A lot. So, a few hours and a few litres of Red Bull later, I finally finished this chapter!**

**Oh, and don't forget to follow/favourite/review, you know, all that good stuff. Reviews can make my day and it's the little things that matter when you spend most of the day doing schoolwork :/**

**Hope you guys enjoy! :D**

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_"We are each on our own journey. Each of us is on our very own adventure; encountering all kinds of challenges, and the choices we make on that adventure will shape us as we go; these choices will stretch us, test us and push us to our limit; and our adventure will make us stronger than we ever knew we could be."_

_ -Aamnah Akram_

* * *

A lone Hyperion soldier made his way back towards the barracks on one of the Hyperion launch facilities on Pandora. His name was Geoff Foster, and he was a loyal Hyperion employee. He had been working for Hyperion for five years, and he was way too dedicated to quit. Although, even he had to admit, the company was on its way out. It had been six months since the death of Handsome Jack, and nobody had stepped up to fill in his position, so the company just slowly deteriorated. Hyperion was crumbling, just like the Atlas Corporation had before them. Most Hyperion employees feared ending up just like the bandits, so most of them left the first chance they got.

For those that stayed, of their own free will or not, were pretty much stranded on Pandora. Nobody was coming to help them. All they could do was keep their heads together and live for as long as they could off the supplies they had.

As Geoff made his way back to the barracks where the others were, he thought again about why he had stayed here. It was mainly down to the fact that he had nothing to go back to, no family, no house. His job at Hyperion was pretty much all he had left. Even if there was no way he could contribute to the dying corporation, he felt he should stick with it until the end.

However, Geoff was beginning to worry about the rest of the remaining soldiers. They hadn't been themselves over the last few weeks, the last few days in particular. They had just been acting… strange. Some soldiers would disappear for hours at a time randomly, while others had violent outbursts. Geoff had even witnessed one soldier shoot another down for no reason. These things really made Geoff worry. At this rate, they would be nothing more than insane bandits within a month, and that scared the hell out of him. He considered leaving a few times, but he was probably less likely to survive out in the Pandoran wilderness than he was in a place full of psychopaths.

Geoff didn't even like staying in the barracks for any length of time. He preferred to get away from the others so he could at least maintain his sanity. He usually went out to do something productive. He never went far, just looked around in a mile radius or so for supplies or to kill nearby bandits or whatever the case may be.

He approached the main door to the barracks and stopped. He placed a hand on the door handle and took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for whatever may lay behind the door. With his other free hand, he reached back and gripped his pistol tightly, just in case. He slowly pushed the door open wide and looked inside. He was shocked at what he saw. He had only been gone a few hours, but it seemed like things at the barracks had gone from bad to total shitstorm.

The facility was in a bad state before he left, but now it was a total wreck. There wasn't an object or wall that wasn't broken in some way. However, that wasn't the only thing that freaked him out. Looking closer, he could see splatters of blood dotted around the place that he could have sworn were not there before.

Pulling his pistol out from its holster and holding it in front of him, he took a few weary steps forward and into the building. He was so preoccupied and confused that he forgot to close the door slowly. The door swung shut behind him, giving off a loud bang and making Geoff wince slightly. After a few tense moments, he began to move further down a short corridor. It seemed the further he went, the more blood there was. He was only a few metres in and already there was blood on the ground, walls and ceiling. Most people would have turned back and ran by now, but he was determined to find out what the hell had happened.

Suddenly, he heard a loud metallic clang come from ahead of him. It sounded like it came from and open door on the right of the corridor barely five metres ahead of him. Taking another deep breath and raising his pistol up, he slowed made his way towards the door, sticking to the right wall. He heard the metallic bang again, but tried to ignore it. Instead, he focused on keeping as quiet as he could. He stopped just in front of the door and stood perfectly still, waiting to see if he would hear the banging again. When it didn't come, he slowly peeked his head around the door.

This room was just as bloody as the corridor, if not worse. What was different about this room was there was lots of writing and symbols all over the walls. Some written in a white paint, some in what could only be blood. Geoff squinted and tried to get a better look at the symbols. Most of them made no sense to him, but there was one he had seen before on Pandora. It was a circle, with an upside-down V inside of it. If he remembered correctly, it symbolized the Vaults. The writing on the walls was even weirder and made less sense. The only two sentences Geoff could make out were 'They are coming' and 'The Vaults will save us'.

At this point, Geoff was almost terrified. He continued looking for another few seconds. It was only after a few seconds did he notice the man standing on the other side of the room. Geoff looked around the room one last time to make sure nobody else was there before walking through the doorway slowly, trying not to make a sound. As Geoff got closer, he could see that the man looked like a mix between a Hyperion worker and a bandit. He wore the bottom half of the Hyperion uniform, except it was torn and filthy. The man also wore no shirt, much like a psycho. The weirdest thing about the man though, was the metal helmet he wore on his head. It was almost a complete metal sphere that surrounded the man's head. It also had long, metal spikes coming out of the top of it. Geoff could see now that the metallic sound he was hearing was coming from the man smacking his head off the metal all every few seconds. Geoff wondered if everyone had gone completely insane while he was gone.

Geoff slowly made his way over towards the man, not even sure what he was going to do when he got there. However, just as Geoff was around half way across the room, he heard what sounded like footsteps coming from behind him. He quickly spun around to see a man dressed almost identical to the first man quickly walking towards him. The man also wore the same metal helmet, a sphere surrounding his head, with spikes on the top and a small gate where the mouth was. Geoff raised a trembling hand and aimed the pistol at the advancing man, but couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger. Geoff froze as the man pulled out a buzz-axe from behind his back.

"Don't worry, brother, they are coming," the man said in a deep voice, and swung the buzz-axe towards Geoff, who was still frozen in place.

The last thing Geoff saw was the tip of the axe come flying towards his face.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Koen asked Gaige in a worried tone. He was still trying to figure out what he had just heard. He recognised the voice as Axton's, but not much of what he was trying to say made sense to him.

"I-I don't know!" Gaige replied frantically, and began hopelessly pushing all of the buttons on the ECHO device, desperately trying to reconnect to Axton's ECHO device. The more she pushed buttons, the angrier she got. She eventually raised her metal hand and slammed it down on top of the device. Several buttons, along with the whole front of the ECHO device flew off and clattered to the ground. The sudden outburst shocked Koen and he took a step back. He watched as Gaige picked up the rest of the ECHO device and threw it across the room. It smashed into the wall and broke into pieces. She then put her hands over her face and hung her head. Koen's eyes widened and he looked quickly between Gaige and where the ECHO device had landed, staying where he was.

"Uhh… nice throw," Koen muttered, trying to be funny to cheer Gaige up. When she didn't look up or respond, he sighed and walked up to her. He put an arm around her but she still didn't move. "I'm sure they're fine," he assured, "Those guys can literally take anything that's thrown at them. Things are probably not as bad what we thought we just heard."

Gaige took her hands away from her face and turned to face Koen, looking up at him. "We have to go back," she mumbled.

"Woah, woah, let's just relax. We are not going back to Pandora," Koen said.

"Did you not hear Axton?" Gaige replied, "They sound like they're in trouble, they could need our help."

"Wha- do you not remember how much we fought to get off that planet, to get here, and you want to go back?" Koen questioned.

"Koen, we _have _to go back," Gaige insisted, stamping a foot on the ground.

Koen could hardly believe what he was hearing. It was like everything they had done to get here was for nothing. However, it seemed like there was no convincing Gaige, and there was no way he would let her go by herself. He groaned loudly and looked up at the ceiling. Gaige chewed a fingernail, realising that she had angered him slightly.

Koen turned and headed for the door. Just as he touched the handle, he turned back around to Gaige.

"We'll talk again tomorrow, you're probably just tired," Koen reasoned, "Okay?"

Gaige bent down and picked up a piece of her now broken ECHO device. She moved it around her fingers idly, looking at the piece of metal in her hand.

Koen sighed again and opened the door. "Sorry," he muttered, as he walked out of the room, leaving a sad and confused Gaige standing behind him.

* * *

Koen searched through his pockets for his key, as he stood outside the door to his and Marshall's apartment. The room was part of a big apartment complex, a grey, unappealing slab of concrete next to the road. It definitely was not the fanciest place around, but it was still suitable housing. Koen was thankful that it was only a few minutes from Gaige's house.

Koen finally found his key, unlocked the door and pushed it open. He expected Marshall to be home, but he decided to check anyway.

"Hellooo?" Koen called out, as he shut the door behind him.

"Hey!" Marshall called from where Koen guessed was the kitchen.

Just as Koen began to walk towards the kitchen where Marshall was, he stopped and thought for a second. Then, he turned around and walked up to a smaller door that was next to the front door. They used it as a sort of closet to just store all sorts of random crap. However, there was one particular item he was searching for. He pulled a small rope that was hanging from the ceiling and a small lightbulb flickered on above him. He looked around for a few seconds until he found what he was looking for. He saw the familiar, black metal that was the object was made of. He grabbed the object and pulled it out, inspecting it.

His crossbow, his most prized possession. It had been the one thing that had never left his side for the last few years. It was more than just a weapon, it was almost a part of him. Once he'd arrived on Eden-5, he didn't see much use for it, but he held on to it. He'd kept it safe the whole time and now, if Gaige got her way, he'd be needing it again. He smiled at the weapon before setting it down gently leaning against the wall beside the door. He looked in the closet more for anything else that he may have kept. He knew for a fact that his quiver and arrows were in here somewhere, but he wasn't really bothered to go looking for them right now. He looked down to see a few stray bullets strewn across the floor of the closet. He bent down, picked one of them up and looked at it. The world 'Maliwan' was engraved into the side of the bullet. Koen realised this must have been a bullet for Marshall's Maliwan SMG, which must have also been around here. He kept the bullet in his hand and closed the closet door.

He walked through the short and narrow hallway towards the kitchen, where he saw Marshall standing in front of the fridge, holding it open and looking inside. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Koen enter the room.

"Hey," Marshall greeted again.

Koen pulled out a chair from under the small kitchen table and sat down. He watched as Marshall pulled out a bottle of beer from the fridge and shut the door. He turned around, pulled up a chair for himself and sat down. Marshall pressed the cap of the bottle against the edge of the table and smacked the cap. The cap flew off and landed in the middle of the table. Marshall raised the bottle and took a long gulp before letting out a long sigh.

"So, how are things?" Marshall asked.

Koen wasn't exactly sure if he should tell Marshall about what Gaige wanted to do or not. It didn't directly involve Marshall, but Koen thought that he might as well know, whether they end up going or not.

"Gaige wants to go back to Pandora," Koen said finally.

Marshall was in the middle of taking a sip from his beer as Koen said that. Marshall's eyes widened in disbelief and his beer went down the complete wrong way.

"Why- the hell would she- want to do that," Marshall coughed out.

Koen guessed this was the kind of reaction he was going to get from Marshall. It was actually a bit better than he expected.

"Well… you see, she managed to establish an ECHO connection with her old Vault Hunter friends back on Pandora. Things didn't sound to be going… uh… quite so well, so now she wants to go back to help them if they're in trouble," Koen explained.

"_If _they're in trouble?" Marshall questioned, obviously not seeing Gaige's reason to go back at all.

"Well… yeah," Koen shrugged, "Look, if she wants to go back, and there's absolutely no stopping her, I'm gonna have to go with her. There's no way I can let her go on her own."

Marshall didn't like that idea. "After all you went through to get off that planet, and you're going to go back? Jesus, you really are fucking crazy."

Koen raised an eyebrow and shrugged slightly, unfazed by Marshall's comment.

Marshall let out a sigh. "If you go, that means I have to go with you, I won't let you go just like you won't let Gaige go. Simple as," he said.

Koen remained completely silent. All this time he had his hand on the table and was playing with the bullet he had found.

"You know I'd go with you wherever there's something dangerous, that's the way we've always done it. I'd never leave you. But you gotta ask yourself, do you really wanna go back? Do you really wanna put yourself through all of that again?" Marshall continued.

Koen thought about this for a minute. He took in everything Marshall had said, but it had all been overshadowed by the look of sadness on Gaige's face that he could still see so clearly in his mind. Koen stood up and looked down at Marshall.

"For someone I care about, yes," Koen said firmly, and threw the bullet down on the table before walking out of the room.


	2. The Road Ahead

**A/N: So here we are again. This took a little bit longer than expected but whatever, here you go! This story has been getting great attention so far, so if we could keep that support up, that'd be awesome! Also, for any of you that may be wondering, yes, this story will have Krieg :)**

**Guardian of all that exists: Thanks! ^_^**

**Epic Gamer: Yeah, sorry for not replying. I did actually take a look at the OC a while ago :)**

**GJ115: Yus. Krieg. and thank you!**

**kricV5: Not quite, these guys are a little bit different, but Krieg will still be in the story :)**

**Hope you enjoy!**

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The following morning, Koen was woken up by a loud banging noise. He opened his eyes quickly, realised that was a bad idea, and shut them again. He remained lying in his bed, thinking nothing of the banging. He was just about to drift back to sleep when he heard the banging again. It finally struck him that the noise was actually someone knocking on the front door. He groaned in annoyance and decided he might as well go answer it.

He dragged himself off his comfortable bed and headed for the door, picking up a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and putting them both on as he went. He pushed the door to his room open and stepped out into the hallway, rubbing his eyes and yawning slightly.

"I swear to God, if Marshall's locked himself out again, I will kill him," Koen grumbled to himself.

However, just as Koen reached the front door, he heard a door open behind him. He turned to see Marshall poking his head out of the door, the room completely dark behind him. He looked absolutely wrecked and his eyes were slanted, like he was struggling to keep them open.

"Would you shut up?" Marshall groaned, thinking that it was Koen who was making the knocking noise.

"It's not me!" Koen argued, "There's someone at the door."

Marshall looked at the door, then back to Koen, tilting his head slightly. "Do me a favour and answer it, I'm going back to bed," Marshall said.

Koen shook his head and watched as Marshall sank back into the room and shut the door behind him. "Unbelievable," Koen grunted.

Finally, Koen turned back and opened the door for whoever was there. He snapped to attention and woke up properly when he saw who was standing in the doorway. Gaige's dad, Alex, stood with a fist raised in front of him, like he was about to knock on the door again. Alex kept his hand raised for a second after the door was opened, before letting it drop. He then gave a weak smile at Koen, which Koen returned.

"Hey, Alex," Koen greeted, "What's going on?"

"Hi, Koen," Alex replied, "Mind if I come in?"

Koen knew in his head exactly why he was here. They would have to have this conversation eventually, considering how important the matter was.

"Uh, sure," Koen said, and moved out of the way slightly while still holding the door open. Alex stepped inside and looked around while Koen shut the door behind him.

"So, where's Marshall?" Alex asked.

"Sleeping," Koen sighed, rolling his eyes slightly, "Anyway, come on in here."

Koen led Alex through the hallway into the small kitchen. Koen pulled the two chairs out from under the small kitchen table, one for him, and one for Alex. Koen crashed down into his chair, still tired from waking up only minutes ago. Alex hesitated a moment before sitting down in the chair next to Koen. At first, neither of them said anything, and Koen just drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for Alex to say something.

"Well," Alex said finally, "Gaige and I got into a little bit of an… argument last night. I assume you already know what it was about."

Koen nodded slowly, but said nothing. He didn't expect Gaige to get into an argument with her own dad over this, but he guessed that was just how desperate she really was.

"She wants to… go back to Pandora," Alex continued, "I mean, why the hell would she possibly want to go back there? From what I've heard, it's one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy. It was stupid of me to send her there in the first place, she barely made it out alive, but to let her go again? That's… beyond stupid."

Alex slumped back in his chair, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "I just don't know what to do," He mumbled.

Koen bit his lip and nodded slightly in understanding. This was a difficult situation to be in. On one hand, Koen didn't want to disappoint Gaige, on the other hand, he really did not want to piss Alex off. He thought for a second about what he was going to say, took a deep breath and went for it.

"Right," Koen began, resting his arms on the table and leaning forward. "Alex, Gaige sent over a month on, like you said, one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy. The kind of place where good people are hard to come by. If, on Pandora, you get so lucky as to find some of these people, you keep them close."

Koen paused for a second to glance up at Alex, who was looking at Koen with interest, looking slightly confused.

"What I'm trying to say is, those people she was with on Pandora aren't just a group of Vault Hunters. She was with them the whole time she was there. They travelled together, lived together and fought together. She saved their lives countless time and they saved hers. To her, they were more like close family than a group of friends. That's why she's so reluctant to just let them go."

With his point made, Koen leaned back in his chair and waited for Alex's reaction. Whatever his reaction was, Koen knew in his mind that he had spoken the truth.

"I… I guess that makes sense…" Alex said quietly, surprising Koen, he expected a slightly more aggressive response. There was a short silence before Alex spoke again.

"You've… ah… given me a lot to think about…" Alex trailed off, then stood up to leave. Koen got up as well and followed him as he walked out of the kitchen and down the hallway towards the door. Alex walked up and opened the door, turning around to Koen before exiting.

"Thanks for clearing some of this up, Koen," Alex said, "I'll, uh, see you around, I guess."

Koen only nodded in response. Alex then turned back and walked out the door, shutting the door behind him. Koen remained staring at the closed door for a few seconds, looking back over everything he said. With a shrug, he turned and headed back into the kitchen to get himself some breakfast. He entered the small kitchen and looked at the clock on the wall. The time was a little bit past ten. He figured he had gotten an acceptable amount of sleep.

He opened one of the cupboards and took out a slice of bread for himself. He tossed it in the toaster and turned it on. He stared idly and waited as the toaster did its thing. Funnily enough, this was the first chance he got to actually think to himself about whether or not he would go back. Of course, if Gaige was going he would definitely go. He didn't really mind how things played out, he'd been to that planet before and it had only half killed him. He smirked at his own thoughts and continued to stare at nothing.

Eventually, the toaster finished its job and the toast shot up. However, at almost the exact same time as the toast finished, there was another knock at the door.

"Dammit," Koen groaned, and then grabbed his toast and headed for the door. He took a bite as he walked, savouring his makeshift breakfast.

He opened the door and was surprised to see Gaige standing there, looking like she hadn't slept in ages. She looked up at him when he opened the door, her messy hair hanging over her face slightly. She was wearing a pair of ripped jeans and a pink t-shirt.

"Hey," she mumbled quietly, "Can I come in?"

"Uh, sure," Koen replied, swallowing down his mouthful of toast. Gaige walked through the door and looked at the toast in Koen's hand. She looked back to him before grabbing the toast from his hand, taking a bite and continuing down the hallway. Koen raised an eyebrow and shook his head in disbelief before shutting the door. He followed Gaige into the sitting room, where she walked up to the couch and simply crashed onto it.

"You look exhausted," Koen remarked, sitting down in a chair opposite the couch.

Gaige was lying face down in a pillow, so she was difficult to hear. "I stayed up all night trying to rebuild that stupid ECHO device…" she said in a muffled voice.

"Sure looks like it," Koen reasoned.

Gaige then moved her head slightly so that one of her eyes were visible to Koen. She glared at him for a second before putting her face back into the pillow.

"It was kinda stupid of me to break it in the first place, but I haven't slept in 34 hours and I think I might die. Just a feeling," Gaige said.

Then, with a loud groan, Gaige forced herself into a sitting position. She took another bite of the toast and then sighing.

"Well," Koen said, "I guess you probably didn't come over here just to eat my toast."

"Yeah, well," Gaige replied after she had swallowed the toast, "I was coming down anyway, but then I saw my dad walk in ahead of me so I hid and waited for him to leave. When he did come out, he was looking kinda sad. What did he say?"

"Well, he mentioned that you and him had a bit of an argument last night-"

"It was more of a heated debate, but go on," Gaige interrupted.

"Seriously?" Koen asked, then continued on, "Anyway, I had no idea which side to take, so I just told him how it is. On one hand, I think going back to Pandora is a terrible idea, but I understand that that Maya, Axton, and the rest of them, they're all your friends, and trust me when I say I personally would do anything for my friends."

"Well I've made up my mind, and I'm going, whether my dad wants me to or not. Question is, are you?" Gaige said, raising her eyebrows.

Koen looked away from her for a minute and bit a fingernail. He'd have to make up his decision officially right now. Although he didn't seem so sure, he almost felt that his decision had been made from the very start.

"If you go, I'm going too," Koen said finally, looking back at Gaige.

A massive grin spread across Gaige's face and she raised both arms in the air. "Yes!" she celebrated, before bringing her hand down and patting a spot on the couch next to her. "Come here," she grinned.

Koen laughed and shook his head, getting up out of his chair. "I will, but first, I'm going to get some more toast."

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**A/N: Remember to review, follow, favourite, all that good stuff!**


	3. Promises

**A/N: Right, uh, I'm kind of in a rush at the moment to get to a class (I'm writing this as I head out the door) so I'll try and keep the authors note short. Thanks for all the great feedback I've been getting, keep that stuff up! :)**

**BrutusSilentium: Why thank you :)**

**kricV5: He'll be on the Vault Hunters side, as he is in the game. And yeah I get what you're saying about his good guy/bad guy thing, I'll try implement that in some way.**

**Guardian of all that exists: Oooh, thanks!**

**Elemental Hybrid: 1.) I know, and no problem xD 2.) Thanks! :) 3.) Okay.**

**Sacha (guest): Well, here you go! **

**Almost forgot to mention, I have big exams starting on the 5th of June that run every day until the 13th and then another exam on the 19th, so If my updating is a little slow (slower than it already is) cut me some slack please! XD Wish me luck!**

**Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

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_"Without heroes, we are all plain people and don't know how far we can go."_

_ -Bernard Malamud_

* * *

Gaige spent the next hour or so at Koen's house. She hadn't talked to her dad since the night before and she'd stormed out on her mom, so she wasn't too keen to go back to the house. Koen had Gaige had spent the last hour or so lying together on the couch, watching whatever came up on the TV screen. Koen had his arms around Gaige and both were enjoying every minute of it. Even after a year and a half of being together, their love hadn't dimmed slightly.

Eventually, Gaige yawned and stretched out of Koen's arms. She swung her legs off the side of the couch and stood up, looking like she could barely stand. Koen noticed that she was swaying from side to side slightly and wondered how much sleep she'd actually gotten the night before.

"Where are you going?" Koen asked, looking up at her.

"Gonna use your shower, if you don't mind," Gaige muttered, her eyes almost closed.

"Heh, course not, just do me a favour and don't pass out while you're in there, because you look like you can barely stand," Koen grinned.

"It's… it's fine, I got this," she said and headed for the door. She continued talking as she tried to walk out. "After it, I might head back to-"

She stopped mid-sentence when she walked straight into the door, smacking her head off it with a loud thud. Koen raised an eyebrow and shook his head, resisting the urge to laugh.

"You alright?" Koen asked.

"Uh huh, yep," Gaige replied, slightly more alert. She opened the door and turned to Koen. "As I was saying, I'm gonna go home after this, talk to my dad and stuff."

"Well okay then," Koen shrugged, "I'll go with you if you want."

"Kay," Gaige said, and then walked out the door.

Koen stayed exactly where he was, way too comfortable to get up now. He just sat there and hoped that Gaige didn't do something like walk into the bathroom door and knock herself out. Just as Koen heard the bathroom door close, Marshall walked into the room. He glanced around the room before looking down at Koen, who was still lying flat out on the couch.

"What was that bang?" Marshall asked, frowning slightly.

"Never mind," Koen replied, sitting up on the couch.

"Any more on this Pandora situation?" Marshall questioned, turning slightly and looking out the window.

Koen sighed before replying. "Looks like we're going back, as soon as possible too,"

Marshall only bit his lip and nodded slightly in response.

"Look," Koen continued, "We'll be there and back within a few days. We can definitely handle ourselves on that planet, there's really nothing to worry about."

"By we, I hope you mean all three of us," Marshall said, glancing back at Koen.

Even though Koen knew Marshall would want to come with them, his confidence and sincerity still came as a surprise to him. "So you're coming too?" Koen asked.

"Course," Marshall replied, his face lighting up slightly.

While Koen sort of felt bad for dragging Marshall into this, he couldn't help but smile at that moment. He stood up and gave Marshall a hug, which Marshall returned.

"Actually," Koen said, after he had let go, "I'm gonna check around for some weapons, see what we have left. Pretty sure we still have all of our old stuff."

"Just like old times," Marshall grinned, as Koen headed out of the room.

* * *

Axton froze and stared blankly down at his ECHO device. He could hardly believe what just happened. Gaige had ECHOed him, for the first time in a year and a half. He understood why, there was no way an ECHO could usually connect between planets. He guessed he must have underestimated Gaige's skills once again.

He just hoped he got the message across. He was worried that Gaige would consider coming back here. Things had only gotten worse in the last year or so, stuff that he definitely didn't want Gaige to get caught up in. Not again, not ever. If Gaige came to Pandora, there would be no way for her to get back home. It was a one-way trip.

He had to go tell the others about the call. He'd been walking back from Moxxi's bar when he got the call. It was night time and he'd just spent a few hours at the bar. He guessed the others were back in the HQ, where they usually were. He picked up the pace and made it back in a minute or so, he pushed open the door and hurried inside. He closed the door behind him and looked around the room. To his surprise, the only two people in the room at the time were Maya and Lilith. The two were both lying down on separate beds, reading what looked to be the exact same book.

Maya glanced up from her book when she heard Axton coming in and their eyes met. "Hey, Ax," she said brightly, before looking back to her book.

"Hey," Lilith echoed uninterestedly. She must have been really into that book, Axton thought.

"What's the rush?" Maya asked, noticing how quickly Axton entered the room.

Axton looked around the room once again. "Uh, where is everyone," he said, deflecting Maya's question unintentionally.

"Well," Maya answered, "I'm here, Lilith's there, Salvador and Zer0 are upstairs and Mordecai is probably passed out somewhere."

The reason Maya didn't mention Brick at all is because he had left them a few months back. One day he just left and returned to his slabs, cutting off all communication he had with them. The others thought occasionally about going to talk to him, but they were worried he would just set his bandits on them or try to kill them himself, so they let him be.

"And what about Krieg?" Axton wondered, not liking not knowing the pyscho's whereabouts.

They had found Krieg a few months back, running around in the Dust and slaughtering whatever poor bandit got in his destructive path. The Vault Hunters were wary of him at first, thinking he was just one of those pyschos that attacked everything that moved. However, when they approached him, he didn't attack them at all, he just sheathed his giant buzz-axe and moved on. They followed, and together they all managed to clear out a few bandit camps together. That was when the Vault Hunters realised that this was no ordinary pyscho, that he was different.

"God knows where that idiot is," Maya shrugged, rolling her eyes. "He could be on Dionysus for all we know."

Lilith looked from her book and glanced at Maya, frowning slightly at the mention of her home planet, before returning back to her book.

"Anyway, what are you so worked up about?" Maya continued.

Axton held up his ECHO device, presenting it to Maya. "Gaige just called me," he announced, tossing the ECHO device down on a nearby table.

Maya and Lilith's faces both shot up at the exact same time, their eyes widening and their mouths opening slightly. They looked at each other before quickly jumping off their beds and running over to Axton.

"Well, what did she say? What did you say? What's-"Maya began frantically firing off questions, giving Axton no time to answer any of them.

"Relax, Maya," Axton blinked, raising his hands to calm Maya down a bit. "The call quality was awful, I could barely hear her and I don't even know if she heard me at all."

Maya slunk backwards a bit, looking a little bit let down. "Still, what did you say?" she muttered.

Axton dragged a hand along his face and then began chewing a fingernail. He looked away for a second before looking back to Maya. "Look… I tried to tell her to stay away from here completely, to not come back," he said finally.

Maya frowned and tilted her head. "And why would you say that?" she asked, a hint of anger slipping into her voice."

"Wha- Look around you, Maya!" Axton yelled, "This place has only gone from bad to worse in the last year or so. It's more dangerous than ever and we still haven't found out what the hell's going on with you and Lilith with your Siren powers and the Eridium!"

Maya took a step backwards, becoming slightly intimidated by Axton's outburst. Axton shut his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to collect himself.

"We went through shit, but Gaige is away from here, and I intend to keep it that way. Would you bring anyone back to this?" Axton asked, spreading his arms out wide.

Maya glanced over at Lilith, who was looking back and forth between Maya and Axton with wide eyes, surprised at how quickly things had turned around. Then Lilith herself turned and headed back over to the bed, deciding not to get involved in an argument with the two. Maya, for her part, couldn't do much else other than stare at Axton and try to come up with something to say. When she couldn't think of anything, she simply copied Lilith by turning around and walking over to her bed. She then sat down, picked up her book and continued reading.

Once Axton didn't get a reply from either of the women, he turned around and headed out the door, feeling a lot more angry than he had five minutes ago. He didn't think about where he was gonna go, he just headed out the door and into the dark streets of Sanctuary.

* * *

With Gaige feeling slightly more perked up after her shower, she, Koen and Marshall all headed up towards Gaige's house. Koen felt like he should give her dad his final opinion and ask for his. Koen felt bad for Alex, he'd sent his daughter off to this place once, and had been living in fear and anxiety every moment she was gone. Now, he had to let her go once again, whether he liked it or not. Either way, Gaige would get to Pandora, she simply would not let this go.

They reached Gaige's house and walked up the driveway to the front door. Gaige gave a playful, specific knock on the door and waited. She was tapping her foot the whole time and shaking her hands anxiously, like she was way too excited. Then, after a few seconds, Alex opened the door. His face lit up when he saw his daughter, but then dropped slightly when he saw the two boys behind her. Koen and Marshall shot each other a quick glance.

"Hey dad!" Gaige said brightly, taking a step forward into the house. Alex stepped out of the way and held the door open for Koen and Marshall. As Koen and Marshall entered the house, leaving the door open behind them, Gaige gave her dad a hug. Alex smiled and hugged his daughter back, knowing that he'd have to let her go soon, at least for a while anyway.

Alex broke the hug and put his hands on Gaige's shoulders. Gaige looked up at him, waiting for him to say something.

"Look, sweetie, if you feel you really, really need to, you can go to Pandora. Just… just promise me you'll be back soon," Alex said sadly, trying not to imagine a world without his daughter.

Gaige looked ready to burst with excitement and happiness, while Koen had no idea why. She'd been on that planet longer than he had, and still she insisted on going back. No, begged to go back. It was strange, but then again, Gaige was strange.

Koen leaned over to Marshall and whispered to him. "I can't understand why she's so desperate to go to Pandora, I mean, shithole doesn't even begin to describe this place."

Marshall only shrugged and shook his head. He didn't know Gaige very well, but he knew that Koen was right.

"So, how do we get there and when do we go?" Koen asked.

"Well, there's no time like the present," Gaige smiled, looking back at her dad.

"No," her dad replied firmly, "Get yourself ready and think about this some more, if you don't have any doubts by tomorrow, you can go in the morning."

"Kay," Gaige shrugged, "But how are we gonna get to Pandora?"

"Same way as last time, I'd imagine," Alex said, referring to how Gaige had gotten a trans-planetary shuttle last time. Alex then looked at Koen and Marshall. "I take it you guys are going with her, yeah?"

Marshall and Koen both nodded, Marshall appearing slightly unsure of himself.

"Right," Alex said, "I say you guys go home for now, and come here tomorrow morning, we'll be ready."

"Okay," Koen and Marshall both said in unison.

With that, the two boys headed out of the house. They looked back as Alex nodded to them one more time, before slowly closing the door.

"Well that went better than expected," Koen reasoned.


	4. One For All, All For One

**A/N: Hellooooo! Oh man, it's good to be back! You guys are still here, right? ...Right? Anyway, sorry about the month break. First exams got in the way then I was just distracted by summer. Well, I'm back now! I desperately wanted to update so this chapter is quite short, sorry! I have more time now so there should be no more 1 month breaks :)**

**Guardian of all that exists: Haha, thanks! My exams went fine by the way.**

**BrutusSilentium: Yup, more Krieg to come!**

**Epic Gamer: I'm really really sorry but I don't quite understand what you're saying... but thanks anyway.**

**zayathevaulthunter: Thanks! I'll check out your stories when I get the chance! :)**

* * *

_"Things do not change. We change."_

_ -Henry David Thoreau_

* * *

Gaige opened her eyes and instantly recognised where she was. She didn't know how she got there, she just knew the place. She'd been here a hundred times before, but she'd thought she'd seen the last of it. She became aware that she was lying on her side on a bed of sand. She tilted her head to look up at the sky. It was day time, and the bright sun was beaming down.

She felt the intense heat as she rolled over and pushed herself up off the ground. Her legs felt week under her, like she could hardly stand. She took a few slow steps up a gentle slope onto a small hill of sand. She pressed the back of her human hand against her forehead to block out the sun. She looked around in a full circle. She was right, she knew exactly where she was.

She was in the Dust. Gaige's mind raced, how could she be here? How did she even get here? She looked to reveal yet another surprise. She was wearing a set of clothes that she knew too well. She was wearing her school uniform, but not her normal one. The clothing was the exact same she had arrived on Pandora in. Everything was the same, the denim jacket, the red skirt, the striped socks, the red t-shirt. All of it was identical.

She wondered where everyone else was, above all else. Looking around the vicinity of where she had woken up, she couldn't see anyone else.

"Helloooo?" she called out, hoping that somebody would respond. When she didn't get a reply, she tried again. "HELLOOOOO?!" she screamed again, getting slightly more anxious and a bit angry.

She swallowed hard and decided to just pick a direction and walk, she'd find somewhere relatively safe eventually. Then she had an idea. She pulled out her ECHO to try and call someone. However, her ECHO appeared to be broken, only showing a black screen. She smacked the side of it to try and get it to work, with no success. With a worried sigh, she put the ECHO away and continued walking. She only walked a few feet before she heard a noise that she was all too familiar with. She froze on the spot and looked around, trying to find the source of the sound.

She picked up her pace as the noise got louder, seemingly closing in on her. She broke out into a full on sprint, checking back over her shoulder every few seconds. The sound got louder still, almost as if it was right behind her. She looked back to see a bandit technical speeding straight towards her. She stopped running and just stared at it, her eyes transfixed on the machine that was hurtling in her direction.

Gaige couldn't bring herself to do anything, not even move out of the way. She began to panic silently, her breath coming rapidly. She could hear the insane bandits laughing with pleasure, taunting her. Her trembling arms slowly rose up in front of her face, as if it would somehow stop the technical. The vehicle kept driving, closer… closer… closer.

Then it hit her.

Gaige opened her eyes and jolted forwards into a sitting position. She looked around. She was no longer on Pandora, no longer in a desert and more importantly, there was no longer a metal nightmare about to mow her down. She was back at home, where she belonged. She was her own in her familiar bedroom. She leaned over and flicked on the light, her whole body still trembling. Still feeling shook up over what she'd just experienced, Gaige moved over and sat at the edge of her bed and covered her mouth with her hands.

The nightmare had freaked her out, she'd admit to that. Gaige wondered if she'd be up to going back to Pandora. After a year and a half, she had once again grown used to her normal life on Eden-5. While she was safely living at home, in her mind she never really left Pandora. Even after all the time away from that planet, she still felt like she was there. That nightmare was not the first she'd experienced, and she would put money on it not being her last. Even though she had only been on Pandora for around a month, she felt like she belonged there. Like it was her real home.

* * *

Gaige ended up getting next to no sleep for the rest of that night, and so still looked half asleep the following morning. She spent the morning stuffing whatever stuff she may or may not need into a backpack and getting herself ready. The last time Gaige was on Pandora, she regretted the clothes she wore quite a lot. Of course, she didn't have much of a choice, but the school uniform had annoyed her to no end. This time, at least she'd be wearing more comfortable clothes. After some consideration, she decided on a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt. She also decided to ditch the two pigtails she had last time and just let her hair down.

Koen and Marshall had also spent some time getting ready, though most of their preparation involved sorting which guns and ammo to take. They didn't have a lot, and Pandora was a dangerous place, so in the end they just decided to take every bullet they had. So, with their backpacks filled with all sorts of things, they made the short walk to Gaige's house together.

"I still think this is a terrible idea, in case you were wondering," Marshall said, as the two walked down an empty street.

"It really isn't that bad…" Koen tried, but stopped when Marshall gave him a strange look. "Okay, fine, it is bad, but it's nothing we can't handle."

"I mean, I'm not afraid or anything, I just don't want anyone getting hurt, that's all," Marshall shrugged.

"It'll be fine, you got me," Koen laughed, pointing a finger to his chest. Marshall allowed himself a quick laugh and a smile, but it didn't change his mind about the whole thing being a bad idea.

The boys finally reached Gaige's house to see Gaige herself standing in the open doorway, her arms folded and leaning against the frame. She perked up when she saw the two of them approaching, and began walking down the driveway towards her.

"Took you two long enough," She smirked, looking the boys over. Gaige felt a hint of déja vu when she saw Koen, however. He was dressed in almost the exact same way as when they were on Pandora for the first time. He was even wearing the same green hoodie that he cherished so much.

"Is that-" Gaige asked, gesturing to Koen.

"Yes it is," Koen interrupted, grabbing the front of the hoodie and pulling it out, "I see it as a sort of a… good luck charm. Seems like we'll need all the luck we can get."

Gaige gave a short laugh at his strange superstition, but thought nothing else of it. "Whatever you say. Anyway, how are you guys fixed for guns and stuff?"

Koen and Marshall shot each other a quick glance before grinning and pulling out whatever weapons they had at their disposal. Marshall, for his part, had held on to his Maliwan SMG the whole time. He loved that thing almost as much as Koen loved his crossbow. Marshall's SMG fired corrosive bullets at an insane rate, and that was the main reason he loved it. Koen, in addition to holding onto his crossbow, had acquired a new Dahl pistol. He'd grown to love the thing, mainly because of its incredible accuracy.

Gaige raised an eyebrow and looked at the weapons in the boy's hands, before nodding slowly.

"Very nice," She said slowly, then turned around and grabbed something from behind the door. When she turned back around, she was holding a well-kept, Jakobs assault rifle. She smiled and held the rifle up in the air proudly.

"And where did you get that?" Koen asked.

"Well, it was my dad's… and now it's mine," she beamed, "I also have this." She held up her other hand to reveal her own Jakob's revolver that she'd held on to.

Koen laughed slightly as he looked at the weapons Gaige held in her hands. "You're very keen on that revolver, Angel Eyes," he laughed, causing Marshall to smirk noticeably.

"Angel Eyes?" Gaige wondered, confused, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Heh. Never you mind, dear. Let's just get going," Koen replied.

* * *

And so, a short journey and a couple of hours later, Marshall, Gaige and Koen all found themselves standing in front of the open doors to a shuttle that would take them to Pandora. Alex was standing a few metres behind them, ready to see them off. Everyone was as surprised as each other that there were still shuttles to Pandora. Anyway, it was what they needed and so they were happy to take it.

"I still hate these things," Koen said with a blank face, as he looked at the inside of the shuttle.

"Ah, shut up and get in there," Marshall sighed, and shoved Koen into the shuttle.

Once the boys were inside the shuttle, they both threw down their weapons and backpacks and crashed down on the row of seats that lined either side of the shuttle. Gaige tossed her things into the shuttle and then turned around to face her dad. After a second, she ran over and hugged him tight. She had told him and herself that she wouldn't be on Pandora long, but knowing how dangerous and unpredictable that planet was, it may take a long time to get back, if at all. It was difficult for Gaige and Koen to get off Pandora the first time, Gaige just hoped that there was a still a way off the planet, or else she'd be screwed.

They broke the hug and Alex looked down into his daughter's eyes, his expression sad yet sincere. "Listen to me, Gaige, as soon as you get done doing whatever it is you need to do there, you come straight back home, any way you can, okay?" he instructed.

"Yeah dad, I-I got it…" Gaige nodded in understanding.

Then, to spare her the pain of saying goodbye another time, she turned around and joined Koen and Marshall in the shuttle. She walked past them and over to the control console. The shuttle was automatic, so it would take them where they needed to go, without anyone having to do anything. Gaige turned back around in time to see the shuttle doors begin to close. She used one hand to cover her mouth and the other to wave goodbye to her dad. She watched as her dad waved back at her until the shuttle doors closed, separating them.

* * *

After a few hours in the shuttle, all three of them were bored out of their minds. Marshall was lying flat out on a row of seats, tossing a bullet up and down. Koen and Gaige were sitting down in seats opposite him, Gaige's head resting on Koen's shoulder. None of them had said anything for a while, so the shuttle was almost completely silent beside the continuous humming coming from the engine.

Eventually, after an hour or so of throwing and catching the bullet, Marshall missed a catch. The bullet fell and bounced off his face, making him flinch, before falling onto the floor with a pinging noise. Marshall tilted his head to the side, looking at the bullet and contemplating whether to get up and grab it or not. In the end he decided he wasn't bothered and stayed exactly where he was.

"Dammit," he mumbled, laying the back of his hand against his forehead and letting out a sigh.

Koen laughed at Marshall's laziness and Gaige lifted her head up, looking very sleepy.

"So… you guys heard of that new weapons manufacturer that's on the rise? Uh… Colt Industries or something?" Koen asked them, trying tos trike up some conversation.

"Oh yeah I know 'em," Marshall responded with his eyes closed, "Got the chance to shoot an assault rifle of theirs a while back. Damn, that thing could tear down walls."

"Sounds like something I gotta get my hands on," Koen said, imagining such a gun, "They make all kinds of stuff, don't they?"

"Yeah, rifles, snipers, pistols, you name it. I'm telling you, these guys are giving every corporation a run for their money. They'll be the next Hyperion in no time at all, just wait and see," Marshall replied.

"The next Hyperion, eh?..." Koen wondered, looking down at the floor. He then turned to Gaige to see she had passed out in the chair next to him. Suddenly feeling pretty tired himself, he rested his head on the side of the chair and shut his eyes. He wanted to know more about Colt Industries, but he decided it could wait. He thought to himself until he slowly but surely drifted into a welcome sleep.

* * *

**A/N: Well, how was my grand return? xD Also, you may have noticed that I don't have a photo for this story. So I'm gonna ask any artists out there if they wanna do any artwork related to this story, please, go ahead! I'd love to see what you guys can do! **

** -Kromatick**


	5. Raise Your Weapon (Part 1)

**A/N: Okay, I'm gonna keep this quick. I've really been struggling to focus on this story recently, BUT, I am definitely not giving up on it. Just having a tough time with it at the moment. It has taken me a month to write even this much. I wanted to update so I thought I'd split this into two parts. This part is really short but the next will be longer and will be coming soon. **

**Thanks for your patience. ^_^**

* * *

_"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."_

_- Anthony Brandt_

* * *

Gaige, Koen and Marshall were all woken up at the exact same time by an incredibly loud crashing noise, as well as the shuttle shaking violently. One second Koen was fast asleep, the next he was flung off his row of seats and onto the floor of the shuttle. However, as quick as it had come, the shaking stopped. The vibrations had already stopped by the time Koen smacked into the floor. Marshall and Gaige were luckier as they were both still lying down on the seats they had fallen asleep on, grabbing onto whatever they could to keep steady. Gaige's eyes were wide open in shock, and Marshall looked more confused than anything. Koen groaned as he lay face down on the floor, still trying to contemplate what exactly had just happened.

Marshall and Gaige both looked down and Koen and laughed at the same time. Koen rolled over onto his back and looked up at both of them.

"Screw you guys," he muttered, before sitting up and then getting to his feet, bending over slightly to avoid hitting his head off the roof of the shuttle.

"If I didn't know any better," Marshall said, peering out the window of the shuttle, "I'd say we're here."

"You don't say," Koen grumbled, as he pushed Marshall out of the way slightly to look out the window. The shuttle was surrounded by a big cloud of dust that completely obscured his view. He sighed and stepped over to the door of the shuttle, hitting the button to open the door. With a loud hiss, the door slowly began to open outwards.

By the time the doors had opened, the dust cloud had cleared and Koen could see exactly where they were. He even recognised the location. They were at the exact same Hyperion launch station that he and Gaige had used to get off Pandora in the first place. After staring for a few seconds, Koen turned around to face Gaige, who was frowning slightly.

"Is that…?" Gaige asked, moving towards the door to get a better look.

"Yes it is," Koen confirmed, knowing what Gaige was going to say.

Marshall leaned in between the two, faking a huge grin. "Uh, I'm sorry, but is there something I'm missing here?" He added, looking around the place.

Koen rolled his eyes, then leaned over and gently shouldered his friend aside. "Never mind, Marshall…" He replied, stooping down to pick up his things. He pulled his backpack on and hitched the crossbow to the back of it. He then holstered his Dahl pistol. Koen waited a few seconds for his companions to do the same. Once they were all ready, they all filed out of the shuttle. Koen first, followed by Marshall and then Gaige.

All three felt the heat from the scorching sun instantly. Koen and Gaige had spent the last year on Eden-5, while Marshall had never experienced heat like this.

"Hooooly crap," Marshall groaned, lifting a hand to his forehead and looking up towards the sun, "This fucking heat."

"Better get used to it," Koen answered him, still looking towards the Hyperion launch facility. "It's not gonna get any cooler. Anyway, I say we check out the launch station."

Gaige turned her head and looked at Koen, frowning slightly. "Whhhyyy would we wanna do that?" Gaige asked, obviously not liking the idea.

Koen then raised a hand towards the launch facility. "Gaige, look at it. It looks like it's been abandoned for a while now. If there was anyone there, we'd have seen them by now."

"Okay, fine…" Gaige sighed, still not fully sold on the idea.

And so, the trio headed up a gentle hill of sand and dust towards the facility. They soon reached the cracked, dusty concrete of the facility and stopped to have a further look around. The entire facility not only seemed deserted, but was in a much worse state than Koen and Gaige remembered. Marshall, however, was none the wiser and so just figured that the wrecked facility was a sign of just how damaged Pandora was. A cracked Hyperion logo above one of the buildings served as a reminder that the mega-corporation had long since left the harsh planet, and was pretty much dead.

Koen noticed a large metal door around twenty metres away from them that looked like it led into the main part of the facility. "Hey, there's a door over there, let's go for it," He suggested.

Marshall shrugged and glanced back at Koen. "I'm game," he said quickly.

With that, Koen began walking towards the large door, Marshall following after him slightly. Gaige stayed where she was for a second, getting an idea. She quickly pulled out her ECHO and excitedly began to call Axton. However, just as she was connecting to Axton's ECHO, she began to feel uneasy. Axton had specifically told her not to come back to Pandora, and she had completely ignored him. She worried about what his reaction would be, but she figured it would be bad.

"…Gaige?" Axton's voice came over the ECHO, "What's going on? Is everything okay? What happened the last time you tried to-"

"Axton, I'm here on Pandora," Gaige interrupted him. She felt there was no point hiding it. There came a silence over the ECHO during which Gaige's heart and mind raced. She waited in anticipation for Axton to speak again.

"…You what?" Axton replied finally, sounding a lot more annoyed than he did five seconds ago.

"U-Uhh…" Gaige stammered, trying to find something to reply with. Then, in what was questionably one of Gaige's worse decisions, she awkwardly switched off her ECHO. As important as talking to Axton was, she decided to let him get his head around the fact that she was here once again.

With that, she jogged to catch up with Koen and Marshall, who were standing outside the metal door. Koen turned around when Gaige came up behind him, looking at her curiously.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Oh, um, nothing," Gaige replied quickly. Koen shrugged and turned back to the door.

The door looked like it slid open from the left, seeing as there was a small gap between the door and the wall. They figured the door mechanism had long since broken down, and now the door was slightly ajar.

"Right, let's see if we can get this thing open a bit more," Marshall said, gesturing to the tiny gap in the door, "Help me with this, Koen."

The boys then reached over and grabbed the edge of the door with both hands. Marshall counted backwards from three and they both gave the door a hard pull. The door opened up slightly and they continued pulling. They kept going until they had made a gap big enough for someone to fit through.

"Right, well, ladies first," Koen smirked, pointing at the gap in the door.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, there's part one. A much longer part two is coming soon, promise.**


	6. Raise Your Weapon (Part 2)

**A/N: Well, here we are again. Here's the second part of chapter 5. There's not really much to say other than I'm glad the story is finally getting somewhere. As necessary as the opening chapters were, I got a bit bored with them. Anyway, things are picking up from now on, so... yeah. Please excuse any grammar mistakes or missing words, most of this was written at around 1 or 2 am.**

**Archangel's Blade: Thank you very much, I appreciate that! **

**Please enjoy ;)**

* * *

Gaige rolled her eyes and walked towards the gap, punching Koen gently on the arm on the way. Koen laughed as Gaige went ahead and squeezed through the small gap. Koen went in after her, followed by Marshall. They all entered into almost total darkness. They seemed to be in a long corridor, with the only light coming from an open door at the end of the corridor.

"I can't see anything," Marshall complained immediately, reaching out to touch the walls on the right side of him. Koen and Gaige followed suit, feeling around for the walls.

Once all three were touching the right side of the wall, they very slowly began to creep along the dark hallway, towards the only light source that was visible to them.

"Koen," Marshall whispered, "What are we even hoping to get out of this? Like, what was the point?"

Koen turned back to look at his friend, then remembered they were in complete darkness and couldn't see each other, "I don't know, aren't you a little bit curious? Hyperion could have left anything here, weapons mainly."

"This had better be worth it…" Gaige grumbled, just before tripping over something and stumbling forward, barely managing to keep her footing.

All three of them froze for a moment, listening to see if there would be any responding sound. When nothing came, they took a deep breath and moved on, feeling their way along the corridor. Eventually, feeling like it took way longer than it should, they reached an open doorway on the right side of the hallway. A dim, orange light spilled through the open door, allowing the three of them to see each other once again. Gaige leaned against one side of the doorway, while Koen and Marshall waited behind her.

"Well… like I said, ladies first," Koen whispered, pointing towards the open doorway.

Gaige rolled her eyes and pulled out her revolver, pointing it upwards and holding it beside her face. Marshall and Koen did the same, ready to move as soon as Gaige did. Gaige closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and swung around through the doorway, her weapon at the ready. Marshall and Koen followed directly after, ready to shoot anything that moved.

However, they didn't encounter any other people. Any other _living_ people anyway. All three of them were accustomed to seeing death and destruction, but what they saw when they moved in shocked them. The entire room was absolutely saturated in blood. They quickly found what they guessed was the source of the blood. There, pinned up against the wall, was a decapitated corpse of a Hyperion soldier. Koen, Marshall and Gaige all lowered their weapons and stared at the corpse for a few seconds, studying it. The top half of the Hyperion uniform was missing from the corpse, revealing the man's bare chest. The strangest thing was, carved all over the man's torso, was a number of vault symbols. The corpse had its arms and legs stretched out, each limb pinned to the wall with what looked like sharp, metal poles.

"Jesus…" Marshall sighed, shaking his head slightly, "That's fucking inhumane."

"Welcome to Pandora," Koen replied quietly, turning around and starting to look around the room.

Gaige stared at the corpse for a few more seconds before turning around and following Koen. Koen was unsure as to exactly what the room was once used for. There were broken computers and cracked screens all over the room. Koen was looking at a few broken screens when a thought occurred to him. He spun around and glanced at the source of the dim light, a burning fire in the middle of the room. They had completely overlooked it when they walked in, but now things started to click together. The fire looked controlled, being fuelled by a few burning books. There was no way the fire was an accident, and besides, it would have to be fresh anyway. There was only explanation for the fire.

Someone else was here.

"Guys…" Koen said quietly, swinging his pistol back into his hand. Gaige and Marshall both turned to look at him, and Koen nodded towards the still burning fire.

Marshall and Gaige both took a look at it and instantly drew their weapons. Koen noticed Marshall mouth the words "How did we not notice that?" to him, but didn't reply. Koen very slowly made his way over to the other side of the room, towards another open door that led to complete darkness. Marshall went back to check the corridor they had come through moments ago.

Koen moved to the other doorway and stared into the darkness, trying his best to make something out. He leaned forward into the doorway until his entire vision went black. With Gaige and Marshall staying deadly silent in the room behind him, he could only hear the sound of his own breathing and his quickening heartbeat.

Then, all of a sudden, Koen felt something blunt smash directly into his face. He didn't know exactly what it was, but he was surprised he wasn't knocked out. He fired a shot at random as he grabbed his face with one hand and stumbled backwards, losing his footing and ending up on the ground. Before he could even try and sit up, he felt a heavy weight pressing down on his chest, pinning him to the ground. All of this happened within the space of two seconds, giving Koen no time to register what had happened. Once his vision cleared, he got a look at his attacker. From what Koen could tell, it was a man. He was wearing what looked like a wrecked Hyperion uniform, except he had nothing on from the waist up. The man also wore a metal sphere on his head, obscuring his face. The sphere was like a helmet, with large metal spikes sticking out from it, and a small gated hole where a mouth would be.

The man also carried what looked like a buzz-axe, which he raised high in the air, ready to bring down on Koen's head. Koen then realised he had dropped his pistol when he had fallen over and began to panic. But, just as the man raised the axe, there was a gunshot, and a bullet nailed the man in the arm, causing him to drop his buzz-axe. The axe clattered to the metal floor as another shot was fired, and then another, both shots hitting the man almost directly in his exposed chest. Blood gushed from the open bullet wounds as the man clutched his chest. Koen glanced back to see Gaige standing behind him, aiming her revolver at the man, with a look on her face that Koen hadn't seen for a long time. After a few seconds, the man finally toppled backwards. All this had happened so quickly, that Marshall barely had time to turn around before he saw the man hit the floor.

Koen breathed a sigh of relief and rested his head against the ground. "What the fuck just happened…?" He asked quietly, looking up at the ceiling as Gaige and Marshall stood over him.

"You nearly died, is what happened," Marshall replied, holding a hand out for Koen to help him up.

Koen picked his pistol back up off the ground as he got up, along with the man's buzz-axe. Koen gently swung the buzz-axe around a bit, smiling slightly. He kind of liked how it felt in his hand. "You know what, I think I might just hold onto this…" Koen announced.

"Oh dear, he's becoming a psycho," Gaige joked, cracking a grin.

"Speak for yourself," Koen shot back with a smile.

Koen then looked down at the Hyperion soldier they had just killed. The man looked just like any old psycho on this planet. History was repeating itself in that the employees of a once great corporation had been left behind on this planet to descend into madness. This was destined to happen since the death of Handsome Jack, and it had only taken a year.

"Alright you two," Marshall interrupted, looking around the room, "I say we get out of here in case any of that guy's buddies decide to show up."

"Yeah yeah, fine," Koen agreed, before turning to Gaige, "You're gonna have to talk to Axton, at least tell him where we are. Come on, what's the worst he could do?"

Gaige looked down at the ground and thought about it for a second, before sighing and slowly taking out her ECHO. She eventually called Axton and waited for him to answer.

"…Yes?" Axton replied after a while.

Koen and Marshall stood with their arms folded, allowing Gaige to do all of the talking. Gaige took a quick, deep breath before answering Axton.

"Axton," Gaige said confidently, "We're at the Hyperion Launch Facility in the Arid Nexus. Just… y'know… just sayin'."

"Okay, just wait there," Axton said calmly yet firmly.

With that, Axton ended the ECHO transmission. Gaige nodded her head slowly and chewed her lip a bit. "Soo…what now?" She wondered, "This is gonna be soooo weird, seeing everyone again after a year."

"Weird isn't the word I would use…" Koen shrugged, then stepped away from the others to take a wide swing at the air with the buzz-axe.

"Oh yeah, then word would you use?" Gaige asked.

"Umm… worrying?" Koen threw back, "I mean, Axton is clearly _not_ happy that I let you come back to this shithole. I'd be lucky if he doesn't at least try and kill me."

"Oh come on, Axton's not that kind of guy, I'm sure he'd understand. Besides, I'll make sure to let him know that I insisted."

"Oh, yes, of course, I'm suuure he'll listen to that," Koen said sarcastically.

Gaige sighed, then walked over and punched Koen in the arm. "Shut up, you, nobody needs your negativity," She joked.

"Maybe, bu-" Koen was interrupted by a large banging sound coming from the direction that they came from, down the long corridor. All three of them looked at each other before instinctively drawing their weapons. Koen turned and moved quickly towards the door they entered through, poking his around the door frame and looking into the dark corridor.

Squinting, Koen could barely make a faint purple glow in the darkness. It seemed like it was coming towards him. Gaige moved up behind him and copied Koen, sticking her head out into the hallway. Meanwhile, Marshall kept watch in the room behind them, guarding the other entrances to the room.

Slowly but surely, the purple moved towards Gaige and Koen. As it closer, they began to see that the source of the light was a sphere, as well as hovering around three or four feet off the ground. Gaige and Koen both held their breaths, listening to their heartbeat and awaiting the purple light. Suddenly, Gaige decided she couldn't take any more of the waiting.

"Hello?" Gaige called, frightening the life out of Koen and making him glance back at her.

The purple light stopped advancing, and nothing happened for a few seconds.

"…Gaige?" Said a female voice all too familiar to Gaige, but completely unknown to Koen.

Once it clicked with Gaige who owned the voice, her eyes widened and a smile broke out across her face. "Oh my God…" she giggled happily. Gaige tried to move out into the corridor, but tripped on Koen's legs and stumbled into the other wall. She quickly collected herself and began walking towards the light. As she approached it, the light grew brighter and brighter, until finally Koen could make out the face of a woman, who had bright orange eyes and red hair.

"Lilith!" Gaige exclaimed with happiness, and ran up and hugged the now smiling woman.

It was then that Marshall walked out into the corridor, a look of total confusion on his face. Koen looked back at him and shrugged, not really knowing what to say. Still, the two boys couldn't help but smirk at each other's confusion.

"Now," Lilith announced, letting go of Gaige and looking at all three of them individually, "Let's get you three back to Sanctuary. There's a whole group of people just waiting to meet you."


End file.
